OSHKOSH, Wis. — Chet Price is good at taking temperatures. After all, he’s a doctor.
But taking the temperature of the room? Different story.
He was lounging around in his Nekoosa home one day with this idea he couldn’t let go. So he approached his wife and clued her in. “What would you think if I said I wanted to trade in my stethoscope for a skill saw?”
Of course, at this point, it was his wife who wanted to take his temperature.
“You know, at first, she was a little hesitant,’’ Price said. “She had a lot of questions.”
Dr. Price was in his 50s. He had enjoyed a successful career as a family practice physician. And while he loved medicine, he always had a wandering eye when it came to construction.
“I kind of always had this idea that I wanted to build a house,’’ he said.
OK, that’s nice, but what about…
“The hardest thing for her,’’ said Price, “was, she kept saying, ‘You’re really good at what you do. You’re a really good doctor. You know, a lot of people rely on you.’ And you know, that’s nice to hear. But I felt like that doesn’t mean that you have to do that, you know, forever. You can do other things, too.
“And I knew that I was healthy enough, fit enough to do this now and I’m just not the type of person to put things off. If I decide I want to do something, then I’m going to do it and now seems to be the best time to do those things.’’
The spousal blessing was eventually delivered, and Chet Price set out on a new adventure.
****
Back in high school, Price worked for a construction company. He learned a lot, but not enough to build a home by himself.
So he looked around and found a 12-month program at Fox Valley Technical College in Oshkosh. He had found his new home.
“This is a very unique program here,’’ said Price. “I didn’t find any others that I thought were comparable anywhere. This was a little bit far away, but it was manageable. So I said I want to take a year off and go back and do this.’’
The program runs from August-to-August and the students build a house from the ground up. They employ a hands-on approach, where things learned in the classroom one day are applied on the job site the next.
Now, being the oldest in the program, his much younger classmates had questions.
“They were surprised… it was hard for them to understand why,’’ said Price. “It usually comes down to people are like, ‘But you make a lot more money as a doctor, why would you choose to do construction?’
“And it’s like, ‘Well, you’ve got to do what you enjoy — and I do enjoy being a physician, too, always have — but I knew I would enjoy this also. And with the work as a physician, I really missed working with my hands, doing physical work, being outside. Those were all things that I really enjoy that I wasn’t getting enough of. And so, I was able to make that point to them that you’ve got to follow your passion wherever it takes you. And whether that comes at a financial cost, well, it’s probably a good trade off, actually.’’
It was an idea he was trying to impress beyond his classmates.
“The other thing that kind of factored into me doing this was, I have four kids, and I really wanted to be a role model to them,’’ he said. “That no matter where you’re at in your career, whether you’re successful or whether you’re not, it’s never too late to make a change. And I think that was a lesson that they got and appreciated.’’
****
Paul Lewandowski has seen many people walk through this classroom doors over the past 20 years, but never someone like Chet Price.
“We’ve had a lawyer, a banker; never a doctor,’’ said Lewandowski, instructor of residential building and construction at FVTC.
“And, yeah, you never would know what his occupation, or previous occupation was,’’ Lewandowski said. “You just think he was one of the older students. Great attitude, dove right into the program. Never shied away from maybe some of the dirtier, or lesser desirable parts of the business. Got right in there, got his feet wet just like everybody else.’’
Lewandowski’s students build a home in the 1,600- to 2,000-foot range, sell it at market price, and the money goes to the FVTC Foundation, which provides financial support, on average, to 1,000 students a year.
And the students learn just about everything they need to know to make them attractive hires for construction companies. And Chet Price is now part of that pool.
“I wish I could get about 10 of him a year,’’ said Lewandowski. “I don’t know what, or where his career will end up taking him, but I think he’s just a great kind of inspirational student. I mean, you know, he’s worked hard to attain a very high level of professionalism in the medical field but just kind of humbling to see him come back to do this.
“I mean, kind of like, ‘Hey, follow your dream’ kind of thing. So an inspirational story like that. A great role model for the students. I mean, he has children that are right around our students’ age, so he can relate and is just an all-around good guy. You can’t beat it.’’
****
Dr. Chet Price thought he would become Chet Price.
“I kind of had an idea that I was going to be done with medicine,’’ he said, “that I was going to do this program and then start building spec homes.’’
But then the cost of building materials started going the way of a helium balloon and it was time to rethink things.
“And so when I got through the program, I decided I needed to get back to work in the clinic,’’ said Price.
So it was time to drop the hammer, in a manner of speaking.
FVTC wanted him back as a construction intern — think teacher’s assistant (TA) in college — and Aspirus Health Care in Wisconsin Rapids wanted him as a family practice doctor.
So he carved out a deal where he would work for FVTC two days a week and as a physician the other three. It was the perfect prescription.
His work outside the doctor’s office has enabled him more flexibility, the opportunity to spend more time with his family, and to live a life without regret.
As for his patients…
“Most of my patients think it’s pretty neat,’’ he said. “I think they see that being a physician is a stressful job and I think they see I come in now pretty refreshed and ready to be there.’’
****
Price said he is unsure if he will do another year as a construction intern, for it is more of a supervisory role than he would prefer.
“I really do like having the hands-on and doing it myself,’’ he said. “We have a really good class of students. There’s not a need for me to be swinging the hammer. And that part is fun. I enjoy interacting with the students, but I do miss swinging the hammer, cutting the boards. So it’s different that I expected, but it’s as good as I expected.
“The one other thing that I’m thinking about as an option when this is done is just start volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. And you know, work with them building homes a couple days a week. I want to continue to have my hand in construction, and the other three days a week in the clinic. I’m planning on kind of continuing that balance.”
When it comes to job satisfaction, it’s hard to imagine anyone has it better than Chet Price.
On the one hand, he can find solutions to patients’ medical problems so they feel better.
On the other…
“I don’t think there are a lot of things that, to me, are cooler than building a house,’’ he said. “You know, when it’s done, there’s going to be a family that is going to live there. It’s all the memories that are going to be made in that home. And you have a part in that.’’
Yes, the doctor is in… heaven.
Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 or at: michael.t.woods1@charter.com